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Monday, October 11, 2010

Blind quadriplegic certified as M.D.

A 27-year-old man became the first blind quadriplegic in Japan to receive a medical doctor's license in line with revisions to a restrictive law, officials of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said.

The awarding of the license on Thursday follows the government's revision in 2001 of the Medical Practitioners Law, when it abolished clauses stipulating that people who have trouble seeing, hearing or speaking cannot become doctors, dentists or pharmacists.

"I want to offer my support to the disabled and people with incurable illnesses," the doctor, who asked not to be named, was quoted as saying.

The officials said a disease left him blind and unable to use his limbs when he was a university student.

After a temporary break from university, he began his studies and in March took the national exam for medical practitioners, in which he had the questions read out to him and was given extra time to complete them.

Four experts and ministry officials interviewed him and assessed his qualifications and level of disability, before declaring him fit to receive a medical license.

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